Method of attaching sliding clasp fasteners



June 2, 1964 G. WARBURTON METHOD OF ATTACHING SLIDING CLASP FASTENERS 7Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 27, 1961 In ventar Attorneys June 2, 1964 G.WARBURTON 3,135,230

METHOD OF ATTACHING SLIDING CLASP FASTENERS Filed Feb. 27, 1961 7Sheets-Sheet 2 A tlorheyg lnve for June 2, 1964 G. WARBURTON 3,135,230

METHOD OF ATTACHING SLIDING CLASP FASTENERS Filed Feb. 27, 1961 7Sheets-Sheet 3 WMfM Attorneys a. WARBURTON METHOD OF ATTACHING SLIDINGCLASP FASTENERS Filed Feb. 27. 1961' June 2, 1964 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 yMY-MAltorneys June 1964 G. WARBURTON METHOD OF ATTACHING SLIDING CLASPFASTENERS 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Fe'b. 2'7, 1961 In venlor Attorney 8 J1964 s. WARBURTON METHOD OF ATTACHING SLIDING CLASP FASTENERS 7Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Feb. 27, 1961 J n 2, 1 G. WARBURTON METHOD OFATTACHING SLIDING CLASP FASTENERS 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed Feb. 27, 1961FIG. 16

IN VENTOR. GEOFFREY WARBURTON ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office3,135,230 Patented June 2, 1964 3,135,230 METHOD OF ATTACHING SLIDINGCLASP FASTENERS Geoliirey Warburton, Cardilf, Wales, assignor to AeroZipp Fasteners Limited, and Lightning Fasteners Limited, London,England, and Birmingham, England, hothBritish companies Filed Feb. 27,1961, Ser. No. 91,669 Claims priority, application Great Britain Mar.17, 1960 9 Claims. (Cl. 112-265) The invention relates to sliding claspfasteners of the kind comprising strings of connected fastener members,which may be made of thermoplastic material, the strings being sewn toflexible carriers. Hitherto, in some cases a beading in the shape of acord, tape or the like was placed on top of each string at least. at oneface thereof, the beading being sewn to the carrier simultaneously withthe string. The purpose of the beading is to cover, at least partly, thefastener members to give rigidity to the fastener assembly and also togive some mechanical protections to the sewing threads. The headings areexpen sive and have to be accurately located relatively to the stringand carrier while being sewn thereto, so as to enable a sewing needle,and therewith a sewing thread to pass through the beading when forming astitch.

;It is an object of the invention to avoid the use of a preformedbeading which has to be penetrated by the sewing needle and the sewingthread.

It is another object of the invention to provide a simple method ofattaching a string of U-shaped fastener members to a carrier whilesimultaneously making a beading.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will apear from thefollowing detailed description of the invention.

To make the invention clearly understood reference will now be made tothe accompanying drawings, which are given by way of example and inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of a sliding clasp fastener;

FIG. 2 illustrates a part of a string of connected fastener members ofthe fastener of FIG. 1, on a larger scale;

FIG. 3 is a diagram, on a still larger and in part exaggerated scale,illustrating sewing stitches by means of which the string of FIG. 2 issewn to a tape in the manufacture of the fastener of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a general perspective view of a sewing machine for sewing thestring of FIG. 2 to a tape;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the sewing machine of FIG. 4 on a smallerscale;

FIG. 6 is a detailed plan view of part 'of the sewing machine of FIG. 4on a larger scale;

FIG. 7 is an elevational view of the sewing machine of FIG. 4 on thesame scale as that of FIG. 6, the view being taken in the direction ofthe arrow A of FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 illustrates a detail of the sewing machine of FIGS. 4 to 7;

FIG. 9 illustrates a section along the line IX--IX of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 illustrates a section along the line XX of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 illustrates a detail of the sewing machine of FIGS. 4 to 10 on alarg r scale;

FIG. 12 illustrates a section along the line XII-XII of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 somewhat diagrammatically illustrates part of the sewing machinewhile sewing the string of FIG. 2 to atape;

FIG. 14 illustrates a portion of FIG. 13 in a different operatingposition;

.FIG. *1 5 illustrates a portion of FIG. 13 in yet another operatingposition and FIG. 16 is a diagram similar to that of FIG. 3, butillustrating a modification.

The sliding clasp fastener portion illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises twostrings 101 of connected fastener members 102 sewn by means of stitches103 to adjacent edges of flexible carriers in the shape of tapes 104. Aslider 105 having an operating pull member 106 opens and closes thefastener in usual manner. It can be seen from FIG. 1 that the stitches103 partly conceal the string 131 and constitute means for guiding theslider 105 along the string 101 or at least assist in so guiding theslider.

The string 101 of connected fastener members 102 may be of anyconvenient known construction and shape. A specific embodiment of such astring 101 shown in FIG. 2 comprises the fastener members 102 which areU- shaped, each U having at its base a coupling portion 107 and havinglimbs 103, one end 111 of each member 102 being connected by a bridgeportion 112 only to an adjacent end 113 of a preceding member, the otherend 114 of each member being connected by another bridge portion 115only .to an adjacent end 116 of a succeeding member (except for the lastmembers of the string). This shape of string will hereinafter shortly becalled meander string. The string 101 is preferably made of nylon orsimilar plastic material.

The meander string 101 of FIG. 2 is joined to the tape 104 with thelimbs 108 of each fastener member straddling an edge of the tape 104 andis sewn to its tape 104 by stitches 103, which as illustrated in FIG. 3are double chain stitches formed by two threads 121 and 122. At one sideof the tape 104 two additional threads 123 and 124 are provided, whichcross each other at points 125 lying between each pair of adjacentpassages 126 of the thread 121 through the tape 104, so that theadditional threads 123 and 124 are held in position by the thread 121.From FIG. 3 it will be noted that the thread 124 always lies on top ofthe thread 123, that is to say, at the side of the thread 123 which isremote from the tape 104 and the string 101. From FIGS, 1 and 3 it willbe seen that each of the additional threads 123 and 124 extends inzig-zag fashion along the tape 104.

The string 101 may be sewn to the tape 104 by means of a sewing machine131 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 The sewing machine 131 may be a conventionalchain-stitching machine using two threads 121 and 122 (which correspondto the threads 12 1 and 122 of FIG. 3) for forming double chainstitches,- an attachment 132 being fitted to the sewing machine 131 forfeeding the tape 104 from a storage coil 133 through the machine in astep-by-step manner, for guiding the meander string 101 from anothercoil 134 onto an edge of the tape 104, and means 135 for periodicallycrossing two additional threads 123 and 124 (which correspond to theadditional threads 123 and 124 of FIG. 3) in front of a sewing needle136 of the sewing machine 131. The threads 121, 122, 123 and 124 aredrawn from bobbins 137.

The attachment 132 comprises a main block I mounted on a bed 2 of thesewing machine 131 below a sewing head 3 of the machine (see also FIGS.6 and 7) by screw means 100. The tape 104 is fed in a step-by-stepmanner by two feed rollers 4 and 5. Feed roller 4 is mounted on a shaft6 which extends through the main block 1 in a direction parallel to, andin the longitudinal direction of, the bed 2 of the sewing machine, thefeed roller 4 being held onto the shaft 6 by an end plate 7 and a screw.8. Feed roller 5 is mounted on a stud 9 on an arm 10 which is pivotallymounted on the main block 1 by a stud 11. As shown in FIG. 4, the tape104 is threaded under feed roller 4, then between feed rollers 4 and 5,and leaves the machine from the top of roller 5. Roller 5 is urgedtowards roller 4 by a spring 12 which extends between the arm and a post13 on the main block 1. Roller 4 is driven in a step-by-step manner by aratchet wheel 14 mounted at the other end of the shaft 6 by an end plate15 and screw 16. The ratchet wheel 14 is moved in a step-by-step mannerby a pawl 17 mounted on an oscillatable yoke 18. After each steppingmovement, the ratchet wheel 14 is held by a locking pawl 19, which ismounted on the main block 1. The yoke 18 is reciprocatable by link 20.One end of the link 20 is pivotally mounted to said yoke, and the otherend of the link 20 is pivotally mounted to a lever arm 21, secured bylocking screws 22 to an existing os cillatable shaft 23 of the sewingmachine. Such an oscillatable shaft 23 is provided in most sewingmachines for operating reciprocating teeth which in co-operation with apressure foot feed material to be sewn through the machine. In thesewing machine 131 the feed teeth are not required and have been removedfrom the oscillatable shaft 23 which instead has been connected to thelever 21. By means of the lever 21 and the line 20, the oscillatableshaft 23 oscillates the yoke 18 and therewith the ratchet wheel 14,which rotates the tape feeding roller 4 in a step-by-step manner.

When the tape 104 is thus fed through the machine, the meander string101 of fastener members is fed to the edge of the tape 104 in such amanner that the string straddles an edge of the tape 104. The string 101is fed by a toothed wheel 24 (see also FIGS. 11 and 12) the teeth ofwhich are shaped to accommodate parts of fastener members 102 betweenthe teeth. The wheel 24 has a peripheral slot 241 dividing each tooth ofthe wheel 24 into two partial teeth. The toothed wheel 24 is mounted atthe side of the main block 1 facing the bed 2 by means of a shaft 25which extends through the main block 1 perpendicularly to the bed 2, thetoothed wheel 24 being fixed to one end of the shaft 25 by means of anend plate 26 and a screw 27. To the other end of the shaft 25, a ratchetwheel 28 is fixed by an end plate 29 and a screw 30. Rotatablyoscillatable below the end plate 29 there is provided a yoke 31 whichcarries a ratchet pawl 32 urged towards the ratchet wheel 28 by means ofa tension spring 33 which extends between a pin 34 on the main block 1and a pin 35 on the ratchet pawl 32. The yoke 31 is rotatablyoscillatable by means of a connecting link 36 which is pivotally mountedby one end thereof to the yoke 31 and by the other end thereof to theyoke 18. A retaining pawl for the ratchet wheel 28 is not providedsince, if the ratchet wheel 28 operated with a retaining pawl, a certainextent of over travel would be needed for the yoke 31 and thus a precisefeeding of the string 101 would not be possible or not be easilypossible. In order, however, to provide a precise feeding of the string101 by the ratchet Wheel 31 at each step, when the yoke 31 has moved tothe extreme of its rotational movement and the ratchet wheel 28 has beenadvanced correspondingly by the pawl 32, the ratchet wheel 28 is held inthis position without backward movement by a permanently acting frictionbrake formed by a fibre block 37 which is held by a compression spring38 against a cylindrical surface 39 of the shaft 25. Thus it will beseen that the braking action of the fibre block 37 causes the ratchetwheel 28 to be held at any position reached by it in its rotationalmovement when the yoke 31 begins to return.

The string 101 is fed into the sewing machine 131 from the rotatablestorage coil and reaches a guide plate 40 which has a thinned marginalportion 41 which is straddled by members 102 of the string 101. Theguide plate 40 is shaped so as to guide the string 101 into engagementwith teeth of the toothed wheel 24 for feeding the string 101, as canbest be see from FIG. 12. Since the tape feed rollers 4 and 5 are movedin a step-by-step manner, and since also the toothed wheel 24 forfeeding the string is moved in a step-by-step manner, the string 101 onleaving the thinned marginal portion 41 of the guide plate 40 is broughtinto straddling engagement with an edge of the tape 104, peripheralrecesses 42 and 43 being provided respectively in the tape feed rollers4 and 5 respectively for accommodating the string 101 on the edge of thetape 104. The sewing machine 131 is otherwise operating as usual duringthe feed of the tape 104- and the string 101. The stitch pitch of thesewing ma chine 131 is correct once the position of the toothed wheel 24has been suitably adjusted in relation to the sewing needle, since thepitch is controlled by the toothed wheel 24 and the ratchet wheel 281the string 101 being sewn onto the edge of the tape 104 as the sewingmachine operates. The edge of the tape 104 remote from the edge to whichthe string 101 is being sewn is guided in a channel like groove 441between the bed 2 and a guide plate 44 which is mounted on a plate 45secured to the base plate 2 of the machine, the guide plate 44 beingurged away from the plate 45 against abutments (not shown) by means ofcompression springs 46 and being held in its general position inrelation thereto by pins 47. A flat spring 58, which is visible in FIG.4, but has been for claritys sake omitted from other figures, serves tohold the tape 104 under tension when passing between the spring 58 andthe bed 2 and being drawn by the rollers 4 and 5 from the coil 133.

From FIG. 6 it will be seen that there is sufi'icient space between thefree edge of the tape guide plate 44 and the toothed wheel 24 formembers 102 of the string 101 to be I fully accommodated on the freeedge of the tape 104. A

further tape guide plate 48 is provided immediately adjacent to the tapeguide plate 44. The further tape guide plate 48 is mounted on pins 49extending from the mount ing plate 45, a compression spring 50 beingprovided for normally urging the tape guide member 48 away from theplate 45 and against an abutment not shown. Between the bed 2 and thefurther tape guide plate 48 a deep channel extends along the free edgeof the further tape guide plate 48, the channel being deeper than thecorresponding channel 441 between the bed 2 and the tape guide plate 44.The free edge of the further tape guide plate 48 is provided with abevel 51, the bevel ending in a ramp 52.

In operation of the attachment 132 as so far described, the tape 104 isfed in a step-by-step manner by feed rollers 4 and 5, and as the string101 is also fed in a step-by-step manner by the toothed wheel 24, andthe members 102 of the string 101 are stitched onto an edge of the tape104 by the reciprocating sewing needle 136 of the machine 131, then, asthe tape 104 with the string 101 passes the stitching-on position, thebridge portions 112 of the string 101, are engaged by the bevel 5 1 andthe ramp 52 of the further tape guide plate 48 and are thereby pushedoutwards from the fully straddling position as they pass the ramp 52 sothat the members 102 of the string 101 stand out from the edge of thetape 104.

In order to provide a raised-up more or less bulky line of stitching atthe side of the fastener which is visible in FIG. 1 and which is roughlyequivalent in bulk to the double chain stitch at the other side of thefastener, an arrangement is provided with reciprocatable slides (seeFIGS. 6 and 7) for introducing the two additional threads 123 and 124(FIG. 3). These slides are indicated by reference numerals 53 and 54,slides 53 being located immediately at that side of slide 54 which isremote from the bed 2. The slides 53 and 54 extend through a channelprovided in the side of the block 1 adjacent the bed 2 in a directionparallel with the bed 2 but inclined to the longitudinal direction ofthe bed 2. The slides 53 and 54, at their ends nearest to the sewingregion of the machine, respectively carry thread holders in the form oftubular thread guides 55 and 56. At their other ends after passingthrough the channel in the block 1, the slides 53 and 54 are connectedby double pivot joints to operating rods 59 and 60 respectively (seealso FIGS. 8, 9 and 10). The operating rods 59 and 60 are connected bymeans of end bearings 61 and 62 respectively, to pivotally mountedfollower levers 63 and 64 respectively, the follower levers 63 and 64being mounted on a stud 65 extending from a plate 66 mounted on the bed2 of the machine. On a rotatable main shaft 57 of the machine there isprovided a helically toothed pinion 67 of the block 1, said pinion beingkeyed to said main shaft 57. A helically toothed gear wheel 68 isprovided, which meshes with the pinion 67 and drives a shaft 69 whichextends through a bearing 70 in the plate 6.6.. At the side of the plate66 remote from the gear wheel 68, two eccentrically positioned circularcam discs 71 and 72 are keyed to the shaft 69 so that said cam discs 71and 72 are 180 out of phase with each other. The cam discs 71 and 72respectively operate follower rollers 73 and 74 mounted on the followerlevers 63 and 64. The follower levers 63 and 64 are held in suchpositions that the follower rollers 73 and 74 permanently bear againstthe cam discs 71 and 72 under the action of tension springs 75 and 76which respectively extend between the free ends of the follower levers63 and 64 and posts 77 and 78 provided on the plate 66. The ratiobetween the pinion 67 and the gear wheel 68 is so chosen that the slides53 and 54 are caused to change their extreme end positions between eachstitching cycle of the machine, so that as the string 101 is sewn to theedge of the tape 104, the two additional threads 124 and 123 which passthrough the tubular thread guides 55 and 56, are periodically crossed inthe manner shown in FIG. 3.

The crossing operation can best be seen from FIGS. 13, 14 and 15. In theposition shown in FIG. 13, the sewing needle 136 with the sewing thread121 is in its uppermost position. The thread guide 55 with itsadditional thread 124 is in one extreme end position and the threadguide 56 with its additional thread 123 is in the opposite'extremeposition. The needle 136 now moves downwards into its lowermost positionshown in FIG. 14, while the thread guides 55 and 56 both assume anintermediate position, and the additional threads 123 and 124 begin tosurround the sewing thread 121. In the position shown in FIG. 15, theneedle 136 has assumed its uppermost position and the thread guides 55and 56 are in their other extreme positions which are opposite to theirrespective positions shown in FIG. 13. The additional threads 124 and123 have crossed each other with the sewing thread 121 between them. Itwill be noted that while the sewing needle performs a full cycle ofoperations moving from the position of FIG. 13 through the position ofFIG. 14 to the position of FIG. 15, the thread guides 55, 56 perform ahalf cycle of operations crossing the additional threads 123 and 124once with the sewing thread 121 between them. During the next full cycleof the sewing needle 136, during which the needle 136 moves from theposition of FIG. through the position of FIG. 14 to the position of FIG.13, the thread guides 55 and 56 perform a next half cycle of operationsanalogous to the first half cycle just described.

It will be seen that apart from the coils 133 and 134 for storing thetape 104 and the string 101, and apart from the bobbins 137 for thethreads 121, 122, 123 and 124, the entire arrangement for sewing thestring 101 to the tape 104 and interlacing the additional threads 123and 124 with the sewing thread. 121 are arranged on a single block 1 andthus form a single unit which is bodily attachable to a sewing machine.Prior to attaching the block 1 to the machine, feed teeth usuallyprovided in a sewing machine have to be removed from the oscillatableshaft 23, and, instead, the lever arm 21 of the block 1 has to be fixedto the oscillatable shaft 23. Furthermore, the pinion 67 has to be fixedto the rotatable main shaft 57 of the machine, the block 1 itself beingfixed to the bed 2 of the machine in any suitable manner. It will, thus,be seen that by means of the block 1, the sewing machine is convertibleinto a sewing machine for attaching the string 101 to the tape 104 inthe manner described.

Many modifications are possible. For example, it is not necessary thatone of the additional threads is at one side of the sewing needle andthe other thread is at the other side of the needle while the needlemakes a stitch. Instead, it is possible as shown in FIG. 16, that allthe additional threads 1123, 1124 are placed at the same side of thesewing needle 1136 while making a stitch 1103 by means of a sewingthread 1121, and are moved to the other side of the sewing while theneedle makes another stitch.

Further modifications are possible without departing from the spirit ofthe invention.

I claim:

1. A method of attaching a string of connected fastener members, eachhaving two limbs, to an edge of a flexible carrier by sewing, comprisingthe steps of applying the string to the carrier with the limbsstraddling the edge of the carrier, placing a thread additional to asewing thread onto the string at one side of a sewing needle when makinga stitch in the process of sewing the limbs of the fastener members tothe carrier, moving the additional thread to the other side of thesewing needle while making another stitch, returning the additionalthread to the first side of the sewing needle, and repeating the recitedsteps, whereby the additional thread repeatedly crosses the line ofstitches and is sewn onto the string by the sewing thread to formtherewith a beading while the sewing proceeds.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least another additionalthread is placed and sewn onto the string by the sewing thread, each ofthe additional threads repeatedly crossing the line of stitches.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein all the additional threadsare placed at the same side of the sewing needle and are moved to theother side of the sewing needle while the needle makes another stitch.

4. A method of attaching a string of connected fastener members, eachhaving two limbs, to an edge of a flexible carrier by sewing, comprisingthe steps of applying the string to the carrier with the limbsstraddling the edge of the carrier, placing at least two additionalthreads onto the string adjacent a sewing needle while making a stitchin the process of sewing the limbs of the fastener members to thecarrier, so that one of the additional threads is at one side of theneedle and the other thread is at the other side of the needle, crossingthe threads after the stitching has been made so that the positions ofthe additional threads at each of their crossing points are oversewn bythe stitching thread and thus together with the stitching thread form aheading while the sewing proceeds.

5. A method of attaching a string of connected fastene members, eachhaving two limbs, to an edge of a flexible carrier by sewing, comprisingthe steps of applying the string to the carrier with the limbsstraddling the edge of the carrier, placing at least two additionalthreads onto the string adjacent a sewing needle while making a stitchin the process of sewing the limbs of the fastener members to thecarrier, so that one of the additional threads is at one side of theneedle and the other thread is at the other side of the needle, crossingthe threads, placing the crossed threads adjacent the sewing needlewhile immediately thereafter making another stitch so that said onethread is now at said other side of the needle and said other thread isat said one side of the needle, crossing the threads again, placing there-crossed threads adjacent the sewing needle while immediatelythereafter making a further stitch so that said one thread is at saidone side of the needle and said other thread is at said other side ofthe needle, and repeating the recited steps, whereby a beading is formedby the additional threads while the stitching proceeds.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the additional threads arecrossed so that the same thread always lies on top of the other thread.

7. A method of attaching a string of connected fastener members to aflexible carrier, comprising the steps of applying the string to thecarrier, and thereafter forming a bead by placing at least one threadadditional to a sewing thread on an exterior portion of the string inserpentine configuration, while simultaneously sewing said additionalthread and said string to said carrier.

8. A method of attaching a string of connected fastener members to aflexible carrier, comprising the steps of applying the string to thecarrier, and thereafter forming a bead by repeatedly crossing aplurality of threads With one another on an exterior portion of saidstring, while sewing the plurality of crossed threads simultaneouslywith the string to the carrier by means of a sewing thread.

9. A method of attaching a meander string of connected U-shaped fastenermembers to a flexible carrier by applying a stitching thread and twoadditional threads, comprising the steps of applying the string to thecarrier, placing the two additional threads onto the string inspaced-apart relationship while making a stitching with said stitchingthread adjacent a fastener member between said additional threadsthrough flexible carrier, so that one of the additional threads is atone side of the stitch and the other thread is at the other side of thestitch,

8 crossing the additional threads, placing the crossed additionalthreads onto the string in spaced-apart relationship, stitching into thestitching thread therebetween, and repeating the recited steps, wherebya heading is formed by the additional threads while the stitchingproceeds.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

7. A METHOD OF ATTACHING A STRING OF CONNECTED FASTENER MEMBERS TO AFLEXIBLE CARRIER, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF APPLYING THE STRING TO THECARRIER, AND THEREAFTER FORMING A BEAD BY PLACING AT LEAST ONE THREADADDITIONAL TO A SEWING THREAD ON AN EXTERIOR PORTION OF THE STRING INSERPENTINE CONFIGURATION, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY SEWING SAID ADDITIONALTHREAD AND SAID STRING TO SAID CARRIER.